Five Times Something Reminded Peter of Yondu
by RedHatMeg
Summary: *GotG2 spoilers!* Five Times Peter remembers Yondu after his death. All of them are painful.


**First, a moment of silence for all my Yondu and Ravagers headcanons that proved to be false by _Guardians of the Galaxy Vo. 2_.**

 **Now, at first this fic was supposed to be just Three Times Something Reminded Peter Of Yondu... And One Time Something Reminded Rocket, but after some time I decided to do it differently, and now we have Peter rememebering his blue dad and being comforted by other Guardians.**

 **Please, leave a comment.**

 **Five Times Something Reminded Peter of Yondu**

 **One**

Peter really wished Groot was a grown up now.

Sure, he was immensely cute as a sapling and he was both the sweetest baby in whole Milano (if only because there were no other babies on Milano), _and_ the source of constant trouble and pain. Peter once heard somewhere that parenthood (especially when the child was an infant) was a weird mixture between "Oh, my sweet baby, I want to hug you 'til the end of a time,", and "Stop screaming or, so gods help me, I will throw you off the cliff." And when he was taking care of little Groot, he got to experience these feelings fully.

But no matter how troublesome Groot was as a baby, nothing could compare to the little shit that was teenage Groot.

He was just sitting in his room all the time, and playing some game. Worse – his branches and lianas were everywhere, which made Peter wonder if they will encounter soon some kind of sticky liquid or other unpleasant symptom of a tree puberty. Bottom line was – now Groot became rebellious, disrespectful, selfish teenager and Peter hated every minute of it.

Groot even called him dull! Now, one could say many things about Peter Quill – he had awesome taste in music, he had hard time keeping his pants on and he certainly had a talent in getting himself and others into trouble. But he wasn't dull. Far from it.

And then, when he was standing in the doorframe of Groot's bedroom, a memory flashed before Peter's eyes.

 _He was fourteen… maybe fifteen. He was lying in his room and listening to his walkman, not caring all that much that he had things to do. He much rather preferred to stay there, in his own little world, far away from responsibilities. But alas, a loud banging from the other side of his door reminded him about said responsibilities, and soon a very much pissed Yondu burst into his room._

" _Move your Terran ass, Quill, or I will personally throw this thing of the airlock."_

 _But Peter felt defiant that day._

" _You're boring, old man…"_

Peter felt how something was squeezing his heart. Right after that rather ordinary memory another, more painful ones were coming back to him – Yondu coming to his rescue, saying goodbye, dying in space for _him_ … Yondu's funeral and this sudden realization that Peter had a dad. Yes, he wasn't the best dad in the universe, but the sad truth was that you often start to appreciate something once you lose it.

And in that moment, staring at Groot's hunched back, he remembered that Yondu grabbed him by shirt and dragged to work. He also took his walkman away… but didn't throw it away as he promised. He merely hid it in his room, probably intending to give it back once Quill would stop misbehaving.

Jokes on him! Peter broke into his quarters the same day and took his walkman back. Needless to say, it was probably one of those moments, when the Centaurian hated to put up with Terran age of rebellion and wondered why Quill couldn't stay a child forever… or at least skip the dumb teenage part and go right into young adult part.

Just like Peter was thinking the same thing at this very moment.

"Now I know how Yondu felt." He said and closed the door.

He started to walk down the corridor. He heard the door opening behind him and then…

"I am Groot." Groot said in apologetic tone.

Peter turned to him. Ever since the funeral other Guardians were acting strange around him. Given that he just lost both his biological and adoptive father, he suspected they thought he needed time to recover. He did feel sad about it, he only tried to not think about Ego's deception and Yondu's death, because it was so painful…

The fact that he mentioned Yondu's name right now, alerted Groot and now the tree was standing in front of a Terran, giving Peter sympathetic look.

"I am Groot?" He asked suddenly.

Peter, on the other hand, sighed.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just…" He stopped and added: "I guess, I've come to realize something."

Before he knew it Groot embraced him gently in a hug. As much as being hugged by hard wood was uncomfortable, Peter appreciated the gesture and patted the tree on his back.

"Thanks, Groot." He said. "Just, please, clean up your room."

Groot cut the embrace and looked at Peter with a soft smile.

"I am Groot." He nodded and went back to his quarters.

 **Two**

Peter and Gamora walked down the streets of Xandar. The Guardians have just brought few thugs to Nova Corps, collected the bounty and now were free to go wherever they wanted. So Rocket and Groot went to get some parts to repair the damage caused to "Milano" during their latest ride, and Drax decided to bring Mantis to some bar to help her experience new things in life (besides, he was curious how would she look like when she get drunk). Peter and Gamora, on the other hand, were looking around the market to see if there was something interesting to buy, while enjoying moment of peace until they would come back to being captain and second-in-command.

And it was during that lazy straw down the Xandarian market, when he spotted it. He immediately stopped and stared at the item with curiosity. Gamora stopped too, but didn't say anything about Peter's strange behavior. She only raised her eyebrow in surprise as she watched him observing the thing in front of him.

And, uh boy, was it ugly! It had one eye bigger than the other one, it was sticking its blue tongue out. Made of some glassy, orange material, it was round at the bottom and slowly getting slimmer right to the top where a flat frog-like head was positioned. When Peter put the thing up, the head started shaking, which made him smile.

"You know," He looked at Gamora, still smiling. "Yondu had lots of dolls like this one. I never knew why, but he was fond of them and didn't hide it in the slightest. He even kept some of them on his control console…"

Then Peter remembered that the same dolls has been put in catafalque and then burned down alongside Yondu's body. And Star Lord's smile fell down. Now, when Peter was looking at ugly toy in his hand, he felt a pang of immense sorrow. Because he suddenly wanted desperately to buy it and give it to Yondu, but neither Yondu, nor his stupid collection were no more.

"He would love it." Peter spoke with cracking voice, his eyes still fixed on the doll. "He would really fucking love it."

Gamora smiled to him sympathetically.

"I believe he would." She said. "After all, he was definitely a man full of contradictions. And he would surely appreciate a gift from you."

Peter's mood momentarily changed to the joking one as he chuckled.

"He would certainly act like it's not a big deal, but he would put it on the shelf next to my troll doll."

Star Lord became somber once again. He gave a soft sigh and put the toy down.

"Let's go." He said nonchalantly. "I'm sure Drax already got Mantis drunk."

"Peter…" Gamora called after him.

He stopped and looked at her. She cleared her throat and added:

"The thing you just told me… it proves that as much as Yondu wanted to be considered manly, he had enough confidence to not care what people thought about his interests. And this is an admirable trait."

For a moment Peter wasn't saying anything. He was just observing Gamora with sad expression.

"And I think," She started again. "that it's nice you remember him that way."

"I guess you're right." He said with w weak smile. "But can we not talk about him? I don't feel like reminiscing about what I will probably never say or do for him."

Gamora seemed to understand, because she smiled and said:

"Let's go to that bar."

 **Three**

"Space is so beautiful…" Mantis said in awe, sitting on a passenger seat as Peter was piloting the ship.

"I guess it is." He replied a moment later. "You know," He began, giving her one glance, before going back to the view in front of him. "my home planet has a technology to observe stars from the ground and Earth's orbit, but it's nothing compared to seeing space from spaceship."

"Indeed, it's marvelous." Mantis smiled, still staring at the stars surrounding Milano. Suddenly she looked at Star Lord and asked: "Peter, will you let me pilot your ship one day?"

He glanced at her again and then smirked.

"And you know how to pilot ship?"

"No, not really." She replied, but then gave a hopeful grin. "But I would like to learn. Will you teach me?"

 _Will you teach me, Yondu?_

 _Oh, would you look at that! The kid is only ten and already thinks he can pilot a spaceship!_

"Peter?" Mantis said, a bit worried by his silence.

He let himself walk down a memory lane a bit longer.

 _Well, maybe it really is time for you to learn how to fly a ship…_

 _Really, Yondu?!_

 _Yeah, yeah. But I will be damned if I ever let you pilot the Eclector…_

In couple flickers Peter remembered how this lesson went on. He remembered how he and Yondu took one M-ship and how the Centaurian explained to him the basics. He remembered how he was ordered to sit on the second pilot seat and just observe. He remembered how marveled he was by the space surrounding him… and by the way his captain was able to maneuver the ship. His first flight lesson consisted mostly of him observing and learning important things about the operating system of a ship. He was kind of disappointed that the actual piloting was going to happen next time, but who he was to argue with a guy with magic arrow?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." Mantis' voice brought Peter back to present.

She was standing beside him. A moment later he realized that her hand was on his shoulder and her antennas were glowing. The bug-like woman looked sad, ashamed even. She moved her hand and took a step back.

"I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to make you sad."

Peter sent her a sympathetic smile.

"No, no, you don't need to apologize. It's not your fault." He assured her and turned again at the view before him.

Yondu taught him everything he needed to know as a Ravager. How to shoot, how to steal, how to fight… and how to pilot a spaceship. And the boy proved to be really good in all those things. Probably even better than Yondu himself. All in all, if it wasn't for the blue bastard, Star Lord would never be as awesome as he was now.

Peter turned to Mantis and smiled again.

"I will teach you how to fly."

A wide grin spread on her face and she exclaimed:

"Really?! Oh, I'm so happy."

"But first," Star Lord began. "you will have to learn the basics…"

 **Four**

Peter couldn't, for the life of his, remember how this song went. In his head a soft female voice was singing phrases detached from context. Moreover – Star Lord couldn't recall where he heard the song and who was the artist. He only knew that he heard it on Earth… so it was years ago. And surely this song wasn't on any of his Awesome Mixes or on Zune, because it wasn't a rock or pop song. The fact that he couldn't remember anything about this ear worm was driving Peter crazy.

Nevertheless, he kept pacing around his quarters, mumbling the lines he remembered, hoping that enlightenment will come to him soon enough.

" _A_ … something… _of sugar_ … something-something… _medicine go down/The medicine go down-wown/ Just a_ … _of sugar_ … something-something… _the medicine go down_ …"

It so happened that Drax was passing by and heard Peter's mumbling. Surprised by Star Lord's odd behavior, he stopped and raised his eyebrows. Peter noticed him, but continued like nothing happened.

"What are you doing, Quill?" Drax asked, entering the room.

"No offense, Drax, but be quiet." Peter said and came back to mumbling: " _A robin feathering his nest/Has very little time to rest/While gathering_ … something-something… _Just a spoonful of sugar_ … something-something… _medicine go down…_ Wait." Peter stopped and sung: " _A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down/The medicine go down-wown/The medicine go down/Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down/In a most delightful way_ … Ha, success!"

"Are you composing a song, my friend?"

Peter gave a soft sigh, then looked at Drax and replied:

"No, no. This is an old song from Terra I'm trying to remember."

"Then it's useless to ask what this song is about?" Drax stated.

"No, no, I think I'm onto something. I just need to think harder."

Peter hummed the song again, trying to focus on the lyrics and remember some more. Suddenly he felt like something in his mind shuttered and he was flooded with understanding. His eyes widened and he whispered:

" _Spoonful of Sugar_ … How could I forget?" He smiled to his memories.

"So tell me, friend: what did you remember?" Drax asked, clearly curious.

Peter turned to him, still smiling and explained with enthusiasm:

"It's a song from a movie. There are those kids whose parents are busy so one day a nanny comes to take care of them. And she tells the kids to clean up their room, but they don't want to, so she sings them this song about making job fun, so the job will go easier. Drax, are you following?" Peter asked putting hands on the man's shoulders and looking him in the eyes.

"I'm not following you. I'm standing right here." Drax said and then added: "So the nanny sings to children and then what?"

"Well, they clean their room."

"And that's all? That's a whole movie?"

"No, no, there's a lot of things going on! Like, the chimney-sweeps are dancing on the roofs, and the kids have tea party on the ceiling, and the nanny sings a song about the longest word she ever knew… And the whole family grow closer together because of the nanny, but then they don't need a nanny anymore so she flies away on her umbrella…"

 _I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!_

Peter went silent.

Yondu coming out of the smoke… Yondu flying over them, holding onto his Yaka arrow… Just like Mary Poppins was flying with her umbrella…

Momentarily Peter's good mood was destroyed. Why even the most innocent things had to remind him about Yondu?

"Quill?" Drax was visibly worried by his friend's odd behavior.

Peter sat on his bunk and looked at him with sad expression.

"I'm just sad, I will probably never see this movie again. And it's a really good movie, you know? One of the best movies of all time."

Judging by his face, Drax seemed to doubt it, but – surprisingly – didn't say anything.

"The nanny just appears, teaches kids and adults lessons and then, when her job is done, goes away. The kids are sad, obviously, because they love her very much and they can't understand why she has to leave…"

Peter felt tears coming to his eyes, so he looked down.

Why he had to leave? Why he had to leave when Peter finally had a dad?

"But they have their parents, right?" Drax said suddenly.

Star Lord looked at him with raised eyebrows. The warrior continued:

"The kids. They have their parents taking care of them, so they really don't need a nanny, anymore."

"Yeah, I guess so." Peter replied. "But they are kids. They don't understand it."

"They will, eventually." Drax argued with a somber expression. "After all she was just a nanny."

"Not to them." Star Lord whispered, staring at Drax.

The other man didn't continued the conversation, he just gave Quill one last sympathetic look and left his room, so Peter could be alone.

 **Five**

The Guardians enjoyed some time in a bar after a very difficult and risky assignment. Peter was sitting at the counter and drinking beer, when Rocket sat beside him with his own booze. For a moment they were just drinking in silence, before the raccoon looked at the Terran and said:

"He was an idiot, you know."

Peter turned to him and raised his eyebrows.

"Yondu." Rocket explained. "He wanted to be a hero."

"Yeah," Quill gave a cheerless chuckle. "I mean, what was he _thinking_? He spent his life stealing, cheating and lying and suddenly he wanted to be a hero?"

Rocket didn't reply immediately. They both were just staring at the space before them. The thing is, they didn't exactly mean what they've just said. Peter knew that he was simply sad… and angry that Yondu died. And he knew that Rocket felt the same. It was written all over the raccoon – in his slumped posture, in his expression and in the tone of his voice.

"I liked him." Rocket said suddenly. "We didn't spend much time together, but I liked him." He went silent for a moment and then: "If I only had a spare…"

"If only I didn't go with Ego." Peter replied, looking at his companion. "I knew he was suspicious, but some part of me wanted a dad." He turned away and whispered: "Even though I already had one."

"Well, he wasn't exactly Father Of The Year." Rocket added. "You two certainly had issues… But the more I think about it the more I can see he at least liked you enough to save you."

"And now the only thing I have are memories of him." Peter stated, his eyes distant. "And I every time I'm reminded of him, I also remember he's not here anymore."

Rocket wasn't saying anything. He just observed Peter in silence, probably thinking about what the man just said. It was only after few seconds when he turned to his drink and replied:

"You know, Quill, when I will finally die as some stupid hero, I want to be remembered as a smartass with anger issues, who could build anything and who occasionally was a decent guy."

"Oh, we're not going to remember you in any other way, trust me, Rocket." Peter said.

"That way, I won't be there anymore, but my awesomeness will stay forever with you. You get my drift, Quill?"

Peter reflected for a moment at what the raccoon just said. He started to wonder how Yondu would like to be remembered. Well, for sure he wished to stay in Peter's mind as a tough, strong leader, a blue son of a bitch, who couldn't be defied… But his last moments… All the things he said to Star Lord and the sacrifice he made… Maybe he also would like for Peter to remember that he also cared.

Quill looked at Rocket and smiled.

"Yeah, I think I know what are you talking about."

"Well then," The raccoon raised his glass. "to our favorite blue bastard."

Peter smiled even wider.

"To our favorite blue bastard."

For a moment he felt like he was sent back in time – he was sitting in far away bar, he was sixteen and he was about to taste his first beer. And beside him there was Yondu, smirking at him. It was one of the fondest memories Peter had about his former captain.

Star Lord and Rocket took the toast and drunk their booze almost at the same time. And Peter didn't know if it was the alcohol, the overall atmosphere, or the memory, but he felt a bit warmer inside.


End file.
